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If we ever stop seeing mountains or ocean on this trip, we know we’ve taken a wrong turn. This morning we drove to the Picos de Europa National Park, located in both Cantabria and Asturias regions. I drove through the mountains at a safe 70 kilometers per hour on the skinny but perfectly paved road. (The roads have been WONDERFUL, even the small teeny tiny ones. No bumps, potholes, major construction. I’m amazed at the condition, but it could be because I’m from Illinois where we have two seasons: winter and road construction.)
We stopped in Potes and visited the Monasterio de Santo Toribio de Liébana. Inside the chapel lies the largest chunk of Christ’s cross, believed to be the part where a nail passed through Jesus’s left hand. It’s housed inside a cross, behind bars and about 50 feet away from where it can be viewed.
The view was incredible.
We cut through the northern part of Los Picos on the way West. More curvy roads, traffic circles, mountains, cows.
Two hours later, we were in Ribadesella, home of La Cueva de Tito Busillo, full of Paleolithic cave paintings that can be seen on page one of the world history textbooks. We were early for the last tour of the day, so we visited the neighboring Cuevona de Ardines. After climbing 300 steps, we descended into a large chamber where we got a history lesson from a prerecorded Wizard of Oz, accompanied by the equally low-tech light projections on the wall.
The actual cave tour took an hour and a half. After hiking 700 or so meters into the cave, we saw the paintings: horses, reindeers, female genitalia (respect for fertility.)
Now we’re on our way to a new region: Galicia. Our first stop is A Coruña, the port city capital of Spain’s Northwest. Current conditions: 13 degrees Celsius, misty rain, dense fog.
Spanish wine
I love the fact that Spainards drink wine the way most Americans drink soda — which is to say all the time. I’m not familiar with any of the Spanish wines, but I know that they are all good and cost about as much as the box of Franzia in my fridge. Add to this the fact that when ordering a bottle of wine in Spain, it’s often accompanied with free cheese or jamón, and it’s easy for me to understand why so many people I know have spent so much money drinking while traveling in Spain.
Los museos
Dalí. Picasso. Goya. Gaudí. El Greco.
I read about these guys countless times during my undergraduate Spanish classes at KU, often looking at the textbook reproductions of their works again and again. Actually getting to see some of these works is something I’ve always wanted to do. As a kid, I always loved Dalí’s paintings, and seeing his most famous “La persistencia de la memoria” at the Reiña Sofía in Madrid will probably be one of my life highlights.
Los picos de Europa
It’s Spain’s first and largest national park and from the small thumbnails I’ve seen on their Web site, the landscape looks absolutely stunning. We’re stopping in a small village on the outskirts of the Picos named Potes before we drive through and around the park, and I think this stretch off the beaten path and onto some of Spain’s back roads will be rewarding.
